Brake lights are out. What can I do? Could this be a fuse or just blown lights.

Many vehicles are equipped with a safety to prevent shifting the vehicle out of park without stepping on the brake.

Check to see that the brake lights come on when the brake pedal is despressed. This should verify the proper position of the brake light switch under the dash - that is released when the pedal is operated - and the brake circuit itself. This is part of the safety circuit mentioned above.

If the brake lights do not come on, look for an open / blown fuse in the fuse box. Consult your manual for the location of the fuse and fuse box(es) and replace with the appropriate size fuse. If it is not blown, check the rest of the fuses and replace any found to be open or blown.

Good luck!

I believe it deserves mention here that about 98% of all brake light malfunctions do not have anything to do with a blown fuse. In fact, fuses are NOT the CAUSE of electrical circuit malfunctions at all. Electrical circuit malfunctions cause fuses to blow. It is very important when diagnosing electrical circuits, that you understand this basic "cause and effect", so you do not waste time and effort looking for the wrong source of the problem. If there is a blown fuse involved in your brake light problem, you need to find out WHY. Simply replacing a blown fuse will not fix the problem that caused the fuse to blow and will only result in another blown fuse.

With that said, the fuse that protects your brake lamp circuits is Fuse 6B (20 Amp) in the instrument panel fuse block.

HINT: This fuse also protects your hazzard flasher circuits. If these work (front or rear or both) the fuse is not blown.

You need a schematic to resolve this issue.

If the center high mount brake light comes on when brake pedal is depressed, and the rear brakes don`t come on, and the fuses are not blown, then I would replace the rear bulbs.

will try to help. is your battery dead? are you applying the brake?it will not shift out of park until your brake lights come on. do you have a fuse blown? look under dash for fuse box, look for brake light fuse,location of the fuse may be on fuse box cover, turn upside down to see. also, it can happen,maybe brake light bulbs are both blown. it's known to happen.hope this helps,and thank you for choosing fixya.com

Hi,

This is caused by one of two things.

1) Blown fuse - check the fuse box for the fuse that controls the brake circuit. Replace as necessary.

2) Bad brake switch - If the fuse is not blown this indicates a faulty brake switch on the brake pedal itself. This will need to be replaced.

Thanks for using FixYa.

The odds are the one fuse is blown for the dash and the tail lights. And the wrong bulb may have been put in for the brake light. The brake light is feeding back into the tail light circuit causing the fuse to blown out.

Change out the bulbs with OEM bulbs and replace the blown fuse. That should fix the problem.

Ther is a recall on the brake light switch it makes the cruise control not work too. but Chevy only recalled the Brake lamp Switch. Recall #09049.Hope this helps.

all brake lights should be linked to same fuse, so fuse should be OK. check for blown globes.

Try this: Start the car. Have someone look at the brake lights. Press the brake pedal. Do the brake lights come on? There is a switch on the brake pedal that allows the shifter to come out of park. No brake lights? Check the brake fuse. Fuse OK? Check under the hood for a blown 30 amp (or bigger) fuse. I'd bet that you have a blown large fuse. Did anyone try to "jump" the battery just before this happened? If so, you may def have a blown large fuse. Hope this helps.